Sparks that start the fire
by siriuslymerlin
Summary: An anthology of Jana and Jimi, the most unlikely pair of Stoneybridge. Because when she flashed those big green eyes at him, he could only respond with his devil-may-care smirk.
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1: Jana

What is this feeling, so sudden and new? I could feel it, when I laid eyes on you. My pulse is rushing, my face is flushing. What is this feeling? Fervid as a flame, does it have a name? Yes. Loathing.

- What is this feeling: wicked

All around Bradlington High, students milled about, waiting for class to start and complaining about it. Jana and her friends were no exceptions. As of current, they were piled onto the couches of the darkroom, bemoaning going back to class after such a lovely spring break.

"I'm so tired," whined Maddy, slumping her head back against the wall. A chorus of agreement sounded.

"Ugh, and I can guarantee that Jefferies has some big project planned," Rhydian mumbled. The blonde boy leaned his head against Maddy's shoulder and looped an arm around her waist.

"None of that lovey-dovey stuff!" Jana cried playfully, chucking her knit hat at the couple. Rhydian smirked at her, and pulled Maddy closer, planting a big kiss on her cheek. Maddy, giggling now, shoved him off and made a big show of wiping her cheek. The boy grinned and took hold of her hand.

"You two are the worst couple ever. Always touchy-feely and sweet! Makes me wanna barf," Tom commented. Of course, he was wound around Shannon in a way that wasn't exactly polite around company. Shannon nodded in agreement.

"Come off it! You're practically melded together!" Maddy shot at her best friends. Shannon blushed, but Tom only shrugged.

"Well, I think you're both disgusting," Jana stated. Her friends all laughed and Jana smiled, though it felt hollow. She was happy that her friends were together and happy; she just wished they wouldn't be so obvious all the time. The bell rang then and the group began the tedious process of getting up and going to class, grumbling all the way. They shuffled into the room and paired off; Maddy and Rhydian took the desk near the window, Shannon and Jana sat beside them, and Tom sat with Sam, not too far away. Jimi had his new mobile out, and was obnoxiously showing it off, basking in the glow of attention. Just then, the K's flounced in, and sat in a cluster at the center of the classroom. The noise in the room increased as desk mates talked with each other and those around them. Shannon was emphatically describing her families camping trip.

"Settle, students, settle," Mr. Jefferies had just walked in. "Now that we've had a good break, it's time to get to work!" He walked around, passing papers out. Jana picked up the sheet and internally groaned. The word "partner" was written in bold across the top. Maddy would go with Rhydian, and Shannon would go with Tom. With her luck, she'd end up with some poor sap. Upon further examination of the paper, she gleaned that it was a massive project, worth 60% of their grades. Jefferies went back to the front of the room and began explaining. They were to be assigned a topic concerning the history of Stoneybridge, which would be part of the Stoneybridge Tercentennial. The project would last all the way until the tercentennial, the day before exams started and school let out. After his rather long explanation, he picked up another sheet, this one filled with names. Jana waited, anxious; she had a shot to be with one of her friends if the list was assigned. Jefferies began rattling names off, and Jana listened for the sound of her name or her friends.

"Shannon with Kara, literature"

Jana smirked at both girls look of disgust and shock.

"Tom and Rhydian, art"

The boys grinned at each other and high-fived.

"Maddy and Harry, music"

Maddy offered a smile to Harry, to which he answered with his signature head nod.

"And finally, Jana and James, ecology."

Jana's mouth dropped opened in shock, there was no way she could work with the stuck up, rude boy.

Jimi's hand shot up, an angry look on his face.

"Sir, I can't work with her, you have to reassign partners!"

The class laughed, well aware of the history between them.

"Sorry James, but partners are final. You'll have to learn to get along."

Jimi muttered a dejected "yes sir" and sulked at his desk, occasionally looking up to glare at Jana, as if this was her fault. Class went on, but Jana barely listened, instead worrying about her project. The bell sounded for lunch and everyone exited, jovially talking. Jana walked with her friends, who were talking about the project.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with Kara! And on literature, which I'm sure she knows nothing about. I'll probably end up doing the whole thing!" Shannon vented, angrily shoving her books into her locker.

"We got pretty lucky. And Rhydian's an artist so this should be a breeze," Tom boasted, clapping the blonde boy on his shoulder.

"Harry's alright. I suppose he knows plenty about music," Maddy said. Rhydian smirked at her.

"I don't have to worry about you two falling in love right?" He joked.

"Well, when he falls for someone, he falls hard and fast," Shannon observed. The smile fell off of Rhydian's face then, and was replaced with a slightly panicked look. Maddy laughed and cuffed the back of his head.

"Don't worry, you prat! Shannon's teasing," the brunette giggled. He relaxed then, a sheepish smile settling on his face.

"You lot are lucky! I'm stuck with Jimi! I'd rather be in a group with all the K's than Jimi!" Jana whined, pouting.

"Yeah, well I don't want to work with some gypsy freak like you anyways," snarled Jimi, who had appeared quite suddenly behind Jana. She whirled around to face him. He shot her his fiercest glare, eyes shining with hate, and, if Jana wasn't mistaken, even a little hurt. He shoved past her rudely, leaving her no time to respond. Jana stared after him, wide-eyed and a little guilty.

"Leave it Jana, he's not worth it," Maddy's voice was soothing and quiet; she'd mistaken Jana's rigid posture as hostility, instead of shock.

"Yeah alright, let's just go to lunch," the red head sighed. The little group went off towards the dinner hall, talking about anything except the project.

Break

Class went on without much event, though Jimi took every opportunity to hurl rude comments at Jana. He mocked her clothes, though she wore the same uniform as the rest. He poked fun at her wild red curls, sharp nose, and bright green eyes. He trashed her supposed gypsy heritage, though she really didn't understand that. A little rudeness between the two was expected, but Jimi was taking it really far, so much that he had been reprimanded several times thus far. Jana figured she'd better apologize for whatever was making him so angry. If there was one thing she'd learned about the human world, it was the fact that a sweet smile and a sincere apology could make almost everything better.

After classes had finished for the day, Jana quickly ran to find her friends, if only to tell them she'd catch up with them. She dashed out into the courtyard, and scanned around to find Jimi scowling at his phone, alone.

"Jimi!" She called. He looked up, but seeing that it was Jana, he turned back to his phone, scowling hard.

"Jimi, I wanted to talk to you," she explained.

"Tough, I don't talk to freaks like you," he said, tilting his nose up.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said that, it was mean. I won't mind working with you. I'll even do most of the project if you like," she offered him her best smile. He looked rather taken aback, like he'd never been apologized to before.

"Er, that's alright. It's fine. I shouldn't have made fun of you so much today," the confusion didn't leave his face as he said the words. Jana's answering smile was so brilliant, he couldn't help but to offer her one of his own.

"I'll see ya," Jana tossed out the goodbye as she dashed off to where her friends had congregated by the footie field. Jimi's eyes lingered on her retreating figure. She wasn't so bad, he decided. He could make do with her.

"What was that about?" Shannon asked as soon as Jana came close.

"I had to apologize. I think hurt his feelings, which would explain why he was so horrible today," she said. Rhydian laughed, "Jimi doesn't have feelings, he has an ego."

"Still. And anyways, one more crack at me and I would have torn him apart," Jana explained, though the words left a strange taste in her mouth. She could this. She was sure she could handle Jimi for few weeks. Anyways, what was the worst that could happen?


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2: Jimi

I don't hate you, for being you. But can you blame me for hating it?

~ A little less sixteen candles, Fall Out Boy

Life, Jimi decided, boiled down to ringing. The ringing of his alarm clock told him to get up and face another day. The ringing of the school bells kept him entrapped. The ringing in his ear meant he had disappointed his father, again. The only ringing he couldn't place was the soft, almost hum in his head when Jana apologized to him. That ringing hadn't stopped yet, and he didn't mind as much. It distracted from all the other noise.

When his father came to collect him, shortly after Jana had gone, the hum shielded him from the harsh buzz of his father's voice.

"Come quickly! I'm on a tight schedule," of course, there was no prelude to the greeting. No hi-how're-you or anything a son might expect from his father. He got into the car fast, and without a word. Minutes passed in silence as his father drove a little too fast for the current road. Jimi contemplated turning the radio on.

"Did you get your marks back for your math test?" His father asked in flawless Cantonese.

"No, not yet," Jimi answered in English, even though he had received his marks. He had done well, better than the rest of his class, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to please his father. The silence continued until they had reached their house. His father dropped him off and took off, probably headed to another meeting. Inside, the house was quiet, like always. A sort of moroseness settled over the boy. Another quiet evening in, he supposed. All by himself with nothing but homework to keep him occupied.

ↄↄↄ

For Jimi, time meant very little. He got up, went to school, hung out with his mates, studied late into the night, and barely slept. It was a continuous cycle. Today had started normally enough, with him arriving at school at 7 on dot, but his timeline altered when Jana flounced up to him, all red curls and ill-hid smiles.

"Hiya!" Jimi gave her a confused look; Jana never talked to him unless she was yelling at him or insulting him.

"Er, hi," Jana fought her smile off and crossed her arms.

"We have to discuss how we're doing the project," she told him, all playfulness gone from her. Jimi nodded, only just remembering they had a project together.

"Er, wanna come round tonight? We can discuss it then," Jimi scanned around, hoping no one was watching this exchange. Jana narrowed her eyes, not missing what he was doing.

"Fine," her tone was clipped and on the verge of anger. Jimi quickly scrawled his number and address onto a spare scrap of paper and pressed it into her hand. She shoved it into her pocket carelessly.

"Bye," she turned and dashed before he had a chance to tell her bye as well. Before he could dwell on it further, Sam and Liam came running up, like loyal dogs. He straightened up, donned his most pretentious smirk, and mentally prepared himself for whatever idiocy came his way. Today, Liam blathered on about the football match last night. Sam boasted about his date last night with Kay. When he went into detail about it, Jimi forced down a laugh. He knew Kay wouldn't do a thing Sam insisted was true. As predicted, neither lackey caught on to his boredom. The conversation continued, but Jimi's attention spread to the rest of the playground. The K's took center stage on the benches near the door. Rhydian and his friends messed about on the edge of the playground. Harry Averwood and his group were surrounded by girls, of all years. The bell sounded, and Jimi was grateful; he didn't have to be out here, bored. Classes went on as normal, his space time continuum restored. Jimi received his science marks, were substantially less than perfect. He angrily shoved his test into backpack, fuming. No matter how hard he tried, he just didn't understand science. Biology might as well be Latin for all he understood. Chemistry was a blur, and physics was just painful. To add insult to injury, people he least expected to be smart aced those classes. Kara always earned full marks with Jana not too far behind. If Jana, who didn't really earn high marks could excel in science, then why couldn't he?

Oddly enough, he thought of Jana often that day. He snuck furtive glances at her when no one was looking. He watched her during lunch, not caring what Liam or Sam thought. When the bell rang to signify the end of the day, Jimi ran off without his mates in hopes of catching Jana. After putting on an extra burst of speed, he caught up to her.

"Jana, hey," he was just the slightest bit breathless.

"Hi," her tone was just the slightest bit exasperated.

"Wanna come round now?" He'd convinced himself that it was only because his father wasn't picking him up today and both Liam and Sam were busy. She sighed, looked around, and Jimi's heart froze.

"Yeah, alright, let's go," she finally said. He worked hard to school his expression into one of confidence and boredom, his signature look. For the most part, they walked in silence, but it was comfortable. He felt no need to bombard her with his achievements of the day. She felt no need to start up conversation. They reached his house in the same manner: quiet.

He led her up to his room, trying and failing, to relax his heartbeat. It was unnaturally fast, like he was nervous or something. But this being the case was absurd. There was no way he was nervous to be around plain, dim, gypsy freak Jana.

An hour later, raised voices could be heard coming from Jimi's room. As predicted, the pair was arguing.

"We need to research, you dingbat! This is a research project!" Cried Jimi.

"What good is research to nature? We have a whole forest full of history right outside and you don't want to use it?" Asked Jana, incredulous.

"We don't have time to go frolicking through the forest, being one with the weeds! We have to get out research done! We have to have a written paper!"

"We will! We'll research in nature! What have you got against a he wilderness anyways?"

"Nothing! But the trees aren't going to tell us exact dates and times of events! Unless you can speak to the trees?" His question was mocking and the last straw for Jana. She let loose a guttural growl, and shoved him hard. He found himself flat on his back, wind knocked out of him. His heart pounded wildly, something he'd never felt before. He pushed himself up weakly to see Jana stalking out of his room, presumably on her way home. It was then he noticed she was wearing a skirt. He watched, a little entranced, as it swished around her thighs, fluttering up and falling back down. His pulse raced on ahead, while tried desperately to catch his breath.

That night, when he went to bed, all he could think of were wild red curls, flashing emerald eyes, and swishing skirts.


End file.
